Getting students signed up for free Quizlet user accounts (false start!)

In the week before our first computer lab meeting, I had the bright idea to have my Freshman English students signed up for free Quizlet accounts using their smart phones.  Bad idea.  Even though they have used the website or app before on their smart phones, it did not go well at all.  

One reason is that the app language is in English, so it was not easy for them to understand what to do. Some were signing up using their Facebook accounts, and some created new accounts with usernames and passwords.  Trying to monitor 24 students doing all this at the same time was quite stressful and not very effective.

And slow cell phone signals and wifi in classroom caused some smart phones to jam up.

I quickly realized that  trying to do it this way was a bad idea, so we stopped right there and then and moved on.  

The takeaway is to do it in a computer lab, very slowly and clearly, leading them through the process on the Quizlet website.  Another option would be to use my smart phone mirrored up on the TV screen.

Anki users - "Remember to Sync!"

If you are teaching students to use a spaced-repetition (SRS) flashcard system, such as Anki, that operates across different platforms (i.e., PC to website to app), it is extremely important to train the students to sync (or connect) before and after every study session and every card making session on any device - basically any time they do anything with their SRS system.  If the students do not sync correctly, then the data that exist in the different places will not be the same, and there will be conflicts later, which could cause them to either lose the new cards they made or any study progress.

The other SRS system that I am recommending for iDevice users, Flashcard Elite, does not have this problem with syncing.  Although, there is related problem with adding new cards to a deck that I will write about later.

Always syncing before and after every use of SRS ensures that the data are always the same in every place and removes the risk of conflicts.

I learned this the hard way today when I forgot to remind my students to sync at the beginning of our computer lab today - kind of embarrassing...

Creating flashcards with different SRS systems

Last week at the first meeting in a computer lab with my 25 first-year, Economic faculty students, I introduced the students to the concept of spaced repetition system (SRS) study and had them all sign up for accounts with Ankiweb.net and Quizlet.com.

During our second computer-lab meeting this week, students accessed their accounts and begin creating their own cards.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, in order for all students to have access to free SRS studying via a website and/or an smartphone app, Android smartphone students used Ankiweb.net, iPhone students used Quizlet.com, and non-smartphone students used Ankiweb.net

Overall, it went well.  Some students needed more help than others, but by the end, all but two students were able to create the 13 cards required for the current unit.  Some of the more technological savvy students even started studying their cards.

I might recommend, in this case; that you have all the Quizlet students and Anki students sit together.  That way it is easy to explain things and to assess progress.

The Ankiweb site, to be honest, while functional enough,  is designed to be used in conjunction with the free Anki computer program and not as a stand alone flashcard creation site.  One of the major drawbacks is that when students create decks via the website, they cannot choose name of the deck.  The first one is "My deck," and other new decks are "My deck1, "My deck2," etc.  However, as my students cannot download the program in the university computer lab, it is the best solution I can find for the Android smartphone students at this time.  Ideally, I will be able to find an Android SRS flashcard app that works with Quizlet.

The Quizlet website is very easy to use, and students can even choose to have the entire site with instructions be in their own language.  However, the flashcard studying portion of it is not SRS.  Yet, it seems to be the best choice to use with the best, free iPhone flashcard app that I can find, Flashcard Elite.

Ideally, it would be nice to have all the students doing the same thing at the same time.  However, this does not seem to be possible.  This combination of apps and methods seems to allow all students to study in a similar way and benifit from SRS flashcards.

A good (maybe), free SRS smartphone app

In trying to find ways to incorporate smartphones into the classroom, I have been experimenting a great deal with spaced-repetition system (SRS) flashcard apps.  Since I am a heavy user of the Anki program/app and know it well, it has been the main focus of my classroom efforts for the last two years.

However, due to the cost, I cannot require my students to buy the Anki app.  Instead, the students have been using the Anki website to create and study cards.  It is not an ideal solution but a functional one.

Recently, I have been looking for alternatives to Anki.  Unfortunately, many of the free apps leave something to be desired.

However, just the other day, on an excellent website called Flashcard apps for for iPhone & iPad, I discovered a distinct possibility called Flashcard Elite.

I have only downloaded it today and am trying a JLPT N2 (Japanese level 2) deck.  So far it looks pretty good!  I'll report more later after I've used it some more...